The United Paramount Network (1995-2006) was a network launched by boat company Chris-Craft (through subsidiary station ownership group United Television, hence the "United" in "United Paramount Network"), and Creator/{{Viacom}} (whose Creator/{{Paramount}} Pictures is part of the namesake). Viacom would buy CC's share in 2000 (the same year Viacom merged with the original Creator/{{CBS}} Corporation), and CC's UPN stations were sold to Fox the next year; they later formed part of the nucleus of MyNetworkTV. During UPN's last nine months of operation it was owned by CBS Corporation (the new name for the original incarnation of Viacom when Viacom was split into two companies at the start of 2006). In September 2006, it merged with Creator/{{The WB}} to form Creator/{{The CW}}, which is owned half by Creator/{{CBS}} and half by Time Warner through Creator/WarnerBros Entertainment.

UPN's most popular shows were its flagship shows, from Paramount's flagship franchise -- ''Franchise/StarTrek'', in the form of ''Series/StarTrekVoyager'' and ''Series/StarTrekEnterprise'' (in fact, ''Voyager'' was UPN's first show period). The rest of UPN's lineup was of varying quality, but was largely made up of mostly forgettable comedies, action dramas, and various sci-fi shows that, for whatever reason or another, struggled or completely failed to catch on. It also didn't have the running start The WB had in having their network available via WGN's cable network nationally for four years, infamously refusing to have UPN programming carried on the WWOR cable signal and killing that channel in turn; many charter UPN affiliates jumped to The WB in 1998 because of UPN's botched launch and the clearer vision of that network.

The main exceptions were ''Main/{{Roswell}}'' and ''Series/BuffyTheVampireSlayer'', which the network (ironically, in hindsight) acquired from The WB. There were a good number of other interspersed successes, such as ''Series/VeronicaMars'', ''Series/{{Moesha}}'', ''Series/TheParkers'', ''Series/{{Girlfriends}}'' and ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'', the lattermost migrating over to The CW along with another hit, ''Series/AmericasNextTopModel''.

Most of UPN's comedies succeeded by targeting an audience that, for decades ([[Series/GoodTimes with]] [[Series/SanfordAndSon a]] [[Series/TheFreshPrinceOfBelAir few]] [[Series/TheCosbyShow exceptions]]), had been largely ignored by the major networks -- African-Americans. This led to it getting a reputation of being [[MinorityShowGhetto "the black people's channel"]] (complete with such backronyms as "the [[FunWithAcronyms Urban People's Network]]"), frequently winning the ratings in that demographic even though, overall, it lagged far behind the "Big Four" broadcast networks (Creator/{{CBS}}, Creator/{{NBC}}, Creator/{{ABC}} and Creator/{{Fox}}) for its entire existence. During the creation of Creator/TheCW, there was a lot of concern that the merger would see the WB side "whitewash" the UPN side in order to attract the former network's more lucrative white, upper-middle class audience -- fears that seemed to have been confirmed when shows like ''Series/EverybodyHatesChris'' and ''Series/TheGame'' got canceled after just a few years of running on The CW.

The network had a children's block for its first four years called "UPN Kids", which was known for Creator/MarvelComics cartoons, a cartoon based on ''WesternAnimation/{{Jumanji}}'', and cheesy teencoms like ''Literature/SweetValleyHigh'' and ''Series/BreakerHigh'' (teencom on a CoolBoat). It was not well-remembered or well-rated, and was purposefully played down in order to not cannibalize the UsefulNotes/{{ratings}} of Viacom stablemate Creator/{{Nickelodeon}}. By 1999, UPN gave up and let Creator/{{Disney}} have the time for ''Disney's One Too'', the last gasp of ''WesternAnimation/TheDisneyAfternoon'' and an extension of OneSaturdayMorning which lasted until 2003.

UPN also had the broadcast rights for Wrestling/{{WWE}}'s ''[[Wrestling/WWESmackDown SmackDown!]]'' program up until the end. Despite several efforts to [[ScrewedByTheNetwork screw the show]] (including a move to the FridayNightDeathSlot and bowing to pressure, as well as in turn applying pressure to the WWE itself, over the controversial ForeignWrestlingHeel Muhammad Hassan character after [[TooSoon the London terrorist bombings in 2005]]), it remained one of the network's strongest-rated shows until the literal end (the network faded to black at the end of a ''[=SmackDown=]'' episode without any ceremony), and even made the transition to TheCW (though it only lasted two years on the new network before moving to Creator/{{MyNetworkTV}}). UPN's final two weeks of programming weren't seen in markets where [=MyNetworkTV=] replaced UPN, as it launched nearly two weeks before The CW. (''[=SmackDown=]'', however, was picked up for those weeks on Tribune-owned WB stations that were transitioning to The CW.)

The end of UPN was much more tumultuous for that network than the WB's end, as Fox was angered by being completely left out of the CW mix and CBS deciding that their UPN and Tribune's WB stations would be the foundation of the network, with Fox stations in markets with Tribune and CBS-owned stations never considered at all. Within a few days of the merger announcement every Fox-owned UPN station removed all UPN branding and never showed a UPN promotion again during their local time. Other affiliates were disappointed by UPN deciding to air nothing but repeats and ''[=SmackDown=]'' (as professional wrestling has historically produced new television on a year-round basis) after the end of the TV season (while The WB at least aired some burned off shows to keep the lights on) and left the network by Memorial Day 2006 or later. In fact, by the time of UPN's last night on the air, the network was just a two-hour nightly feed of repeats without any logos or branding.

As a side-note, Paramount had made two previous attempts to create its own television network. The [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Television_Network Paramount Television Network]] launched in the late 1940s, but an inability to acquire more than one owned & operated station and disputes with [[Creator/{{DuMont}} the DuMont Network]] (which [[DividedWeFall it owned part of)]] and Creator/{{ABC}} meant it never gained traction, and Paramount allowed it to expire in the mid-1950s. In the 1970s, Paramount CEO Barry Diller proposed the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Paramount_Television_Service Paramount Television Service]] to the company's board of directors; its original programming slate would have included thirty [[MadeForTvMovie made-for-TV movies]] (a concept Diller had introduced to ABC back in TheSixties) and, more notably, ''[[Franchise/StarTrek Star Trek: Phase II]]'' – a direct sequel to [[Series/StarTrekTheOriginalSeries the original series]]. Ultimately, Charles Bludhorn (CEO of Gulf and Western, which owned Paramount at the time) thought it would cost too much money[[note]] he was kind of [[JustifiedTrope justified]]- the last time a planned "fourth network" had gone on the air, the [[https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overmyer_Network United Network]], it had run out of money quickly due to having to lease transmission time on the Bell System's phone lines. Satellite-based transmission wouldn't really get big until the early-to-mid 80s.[[/note]], and the studio ended up canceling the network in late 1977, just months before its scheduled roll-out. However, when it became clear that big-budget sci-fi films like ''[[Film/ANewHope Star Wars]]'' and ''Film/CloseEncountersOfTheThirdKind'' could become mega-hits, most of the ''Phase II'' sets and designs were rolled into ''Film/StarTrekTheMotionPicture'', and many of the show's concepts (and a few scripts) appeared in ''Series/StarTrekTheNextGeneration'' a decade later. Paramount would also contribute programming to the Operation Prime-Time venture in the late 70s and early 80s; for some of this programming, the intended PTVS logo was used instead of the normal Paramount TV logo; it was also reused for Paramount's fledgling home video arm as well. As for Barry Diller... well, he and his crazy "fourth network" concept [[Creator/{{Fox}} ended up elsewhere]], too.